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O Weber State College Travel to London via the Signpost. For the story on the London Study Abroad program, see the Signature section, starting on page 7. Vol. 44 No. 55 Tuesday, May 22, 1984 u u (" , v. v ;i -, f ' J i ; J ; . , . .1 " . V t 1 ; (' 1 i . " ' ;-! ' ' 1 ' 1 MTTTTif- . 1 l . , The Signpost Sign-off is included in today's edition. corner: Henry Marsh, convocation speaker; the Stewart These pictures are a sampling of the material to be Bell Tower; a WSC wide receiver; a student relaxing in found in the supplement. Clockwise from the upper left the library and Martin Nish going for two. English Entry Scores To Remain Constant by Shirley Parker Staff Reporter Entering freshmen and students transferring to Weber State College as of fall quarter 1984 may breathe a sigh of relief at the following news. The English ACT score will not be raised this year after all, according to Dr. Merlin Cheney, director of basic skills. Two years ago, the WSC Faculty Senate passed a fairly lengthy resolution dealing with the issues of controlling growth and controlling quality, as well as raising standards at the college. One of the decisions made was that the ACT entry level score for English was to be raised to 18. "It was agreed," said Cheney, "that we must come to some terms with the timing of the procedure." A gradual and very careful implementation of this was needed to give students and the faculty a chance to be prepared, he added. "I have been working with all of the high schools so that increased costs and increased standards become public knowledge well ahead of time." "In 1983," said Cheney, "we raised the acceptable ACT score to 17, and at that time proposed a step-raise and intended that probably by the fall of 1984, it would go to 18." Not following through with this year's intended raise in the ACT score "is not a change in the direction we are expecting to go, but a matter of timing and preparation," continued Cheney. "We are delaying raising the ACT English score for a number of reasons." The first reason, according to Dr. Cheney, is that "a whole series of other changes are taking place right now. We want to be able to track the effects of the faculty rollover, for example. We want to make sure it's not affecting the offerings of the college." As was explained in a previous Signpost article, not all schools or departments are thus far able to participate in the faculty rollover. Raising the ACT, see "ACT' on page 3. Grade Inflation At Weber State? by David C. Wright Staff Reporter The Commission of Colleges for the Northwest recently visited the campus to review WSCs status as an accredited institution. Among the remarks made by the commission was that there are too many A's and B's being given to students here. There is a diversity of opinions on this assertion of grade inflation among administrators and faculty members. According to Dr. Emil Hanson, assistant vice president for academic services at WSC, grade inflation has a history at Weber. "We had grade inflation from 1967 until 1976. It leveled off and has fluctuated maybe .05 (five-hundreths) at the most since that time," he said. Dr. Hanson said that grade inflation became a national problem in the mid 1960's due to the introduction of the passfail grading system. Hanson said that that system reduced the number of D's and E's given out, which, in turn, drove up the aderage GPA. When asked about the accreditation committee's assertion of grade inflation, Dr. Hanson said that the committee took only a cursory look at a very complex issue. Hanson said that he offered some microfilmed reports showing long term average GPS's at Weber to the accreditation committee chairman, and that the chairman turned those down in favor of a study covering one year completed by Dr. Hanson. That study was conduted to measure the affect of the plusminus system of grading begun in 1981. Also, in 1981, the academic vice president issued a memo to faculty members encourging them to "return to a more rigorous grading practice in an effort to raise the quality of our student population." The results of that study showed an overall change in the average GPA of plus .01, from 1980 to 1981. According to Hanson, the average GPA of Weber students has remained stable over the last eight years. "Our average grade at Weber is about 2.79. It has fluctuated to 2.81 and down again, so we are pretty stable," he said. Hanson said that it would be "unrealistic" for the administration to dictate grading policy to the faculty because of the complexity of the grading system. Hanson added that generally juniors and seniors earn more A's and B's than do lower classmen, and since Weber now has more juniors and seniors than ever, the number of A's and B's has naturally increased. "I think where the A's and B's are given are in senior-level classes, where people are specialists and are doing better," said Hanson. The high percentage of non-traditional students at WSC probably has a positive affect on the overall GPA, according to Hanson. He believes that the married student is generally more serious and motivated. "I don't agree with the concept that there is grade inflation at Weber. It (the overall GPA) may fluctuate a few hundredths, but that's all." An opposing opinion was voiced from Dr. Gerald Grove, chairman of the English department. Dr. Grove was asked concerning the accreditation committee's statement of grade inflation. "From what I've observed, I certainly agree with it. I don't know about campus-wide, but from my experience . I agree. I'm sure there is a problem, (with grade inflation) but to what degree I don't know. From the time see "Grades" on page 2.

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O Weber State College Travel to London via the Signpost. For the story on the London Study Abroad program, see the Signature section, starting on page 7. Vol. 44 No. 55 Tuesday, May 22, 1984 u u (" , v. v ;i -, f ' J i ; J ; . , . .1 " . V t 1 ; (' 1 i . " ' ;-! ' ' 1 ' 1 MTTTTif- . 1 l . , The Signpost Sign-off is included in today's edition. corner: Henry Marsh, convocation speaker; the Stewart These pictures are a sampling of the material to be Bell Tower; a WSC wide receiver; a student relaxing in found in the supplement. Clockwise from the upper left the library and Martin Nish going for two. English Entry Scores To Remain Constant by Shirley Parker Staff Reporter Entering freshmen and students transferring to Weber State College as of fall quarter 1984 may breathe a sigh of relief at the following news. The English ACT score will not be raised this year after all, according to Dr. Merlin Cheney, director of basic skills. Two years ago, the WSC Faculty Senate passed a fairly lengthy resolution dealing with the issues of controlling growth and controlling quality, as well as raising standards at the college. One of the decisions made was that the ACT entry level score for English was to be raised to 18. "It was agreed," said Cheney, "that we must come to some terms with the timing of the procedure." A gradual and very careful implementation of this was needed to give students and the faculty a chance to be prepared, he added. "I have been working with all of the high schools so that increased costs and increased standards become public knowledge well ahead of time." "In 1983," said Cheney, "we raised the acceptable ACT score to 17, and at that time proposed a step-raise and intended that probably by the fall of 1984, it would go to 18." Not following through with this year's intended raise in the ACT score "is not a change in the direction we are expecting to go, but a matter of timing and preparation," continued Cheney. "We are delaying raising the ACT English score for a number of reasons." The first reason, according to Dr. Cheney, is that "a whole series of other changes are taking place right now. We want to be able to track the effects of the faculty rollover, for example. We want to make sure it's not affecting the offerings of the college." As was explained in a previous Signpost article, not all schools or departments are thus far able to participate in the faculty rollover. Raising the ACT, see "ACT' on page 3. Grade Inflation At Weber State? by David C. Wright Staff Reporter The Commission of Colleges for the Northwest recently visited the campus to review WSCs status as an accredited institution. Among the remarks made by the commission was that there are too many A's and B's being given to students here. There is a diversity of opinions on this assertion of grade inflation among administrators and faculty members. According to Dr. Emil Hanson, assistant vice president for academic services at WSC, grade inflation has a history at Weber. "We had grade inflation from 1967 until 1976. It leveled off and has fluctuated maybe .05 (five-hundreths) at the most since that time," he said. Dr. Hanson said that grade inflation became a national problem in the mid 1960's due to the introduction of the passfail grading system. Hanson said that that system reduced the number of D's and E's given out, which, in turn, drove up the aderage GPA. When asked about the accreditation committee's assertion of grade inflation, Dr. Hanson said that the committee took only a cursory look at a very complex issue. Hanson said that he offered some microfilmed reports showing long term average GPS's at Weber to the accreditation committee chairman, and that the chairman turned those down in favor of a study covering one year completed by Dr. Hanson. That study was conduted to measure the affect of the plusminus system of grading begun in 1981. Also, in 1981, the academic vice president issued a memo to faculty members encourging them to "return to a more rigorous grading practice in an effort to raise the quality of our student population." The results of that study showed an overall change in the average GPA of plus .01, from 1980 to 1981. According to Hanson, the average GPA of Weber students has remained stable over the last eight years. "Our average grade at Weber is about 2.79. It has fluctuated to 2.81 and down again, so we are pretty stable," he said. Hanson said that it would be "unrealistic" for the administration to dictate grading policy to the faculty because of the complexity of the grading system. Hanson added that generally juniors and seniors earn more A's and B's than do lower classmen, and since Weber now has more juniors and seniors than ever, the number of A's and B's has naturally increased. "I think where the A's and B's are given are in senior-level classes, where people are specialists and are doing better," said Hanson. The high percentage of non-traditional students at WSC probably has a positive affect on the overall GPA, according to Hanson. He believes that the married student is generally more serious and motivated. "I don't agree with the concept that there is grade inflation at Weber. It (the overall GPA) may fluctuate a few hundredths, but that's all." An opposing opinion was voiced from Dr. Gerald Grove, chairman of the English department. Dr. Grove was asked concerning the accreditation committee's statement of grade inflation. "From what I've observed, I certainly agree with it. I don't know about campus-wide, but from my experience . I agree. I'm sure there is a problem, (with grade inflation) but to what degree I don't know. From the time see "Grades" on page 2.